A study published by the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences has found that Czechs have issues with the Roma community, finding them less acceptable than Muslims.
The data also shows that Czechs would rather accept unskilled workers from closer countries than educated Muslims.
The study found that compared to the European average, Czechs are less open. They consider an arrival of people of other races, inhabitants of poor non-European countries, or Jews less acceptable.
About 63 percent of the respondents are against the migration of Roma to the Czech Republic, and 55 percent of the respondents do not want to accept any Muslims.
“People are afraid of migration, and the Czechs are no exception. They are worried about rising criminality, and the only difference that the Czech Republic shows is that the fears of the Czechs are double compared to other countries,” says Jaroslava Pospíšilová, co-author of the study.
While in Europe, on average, 30 percent of university-educated people are afraid of migration, in the Czech Republic it is more than 60 percent. The biggest concern about migration is felt by right-wing voters, a total of 79 percent of them. Also, 79 percent of those with the lowest income are worried about the immigrants.
“The results show that most important for the Czechs are work and material security, health took, although tightly a second place,” explains Pospíšilová.
Amongst the most satisfied nations of Europe are the Danes, the Swiss and the Norwegians, the least satisfied are the Portuguese, Latvians, and Hungarians.
However, experts point out the relative nature of such a measurement, because happiness and satisfaction may mean something different for different nations and thus the evaluation is not objective at all.
